John 6:37

But what meaneth He by saying, "All that the Father giveth Me, shall come to Me"? He toucheth their unbelief, showing that whosoever believeth not on Him transgresseth the will of the Father. And thus He saith it not nakedly, but in a covert manner, and this He doth everywhere, wishing to show that unbelievers are at variance with the Father, not with Him alone. For if this is His will, and if for this He came, that He might save man, those who believe not transgress His will.

"When therefore," He saith, "the Father guideth any man, there is nothing that hindereth him from coming unto Me"; and in another place, "No man can come unto Me, except the Father draw him." And Paul saith, that He delivereth them up unto the Father; "When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father." Now as the Father when He giveth doth so without first depriving Himself, so the Son when He delivereth up doth so without excluding Himself. He is said to deliver us up, because through Him we have access (to the Father).

But perhaps some one will say, "If all that the Father giveth, and whomsoever He shall draw, cometh unto Thee, if none can come unto Thee except it be given him from above, then those to whom the Father giveth not are free from any blame or charges." These are mere words and pretenses. For we require our own deliberate choice also, because whether we will be taught is a matter of choice, and also whether we will believe. And in this place, by the "which the Father giveth Me," He declareth nothing else than that "the believing on Me is no ordinary thing, nor one that cometh of human reasonings, but needeth a revelation from above, and a well-ordered soul to receive that revelation." And the, "He that cometh to Me shall be saved," meaneth that he shall be greatly cared for. "For on account of these," He saith, "I came, and took upon Me the flesh, and entered into the form of a servant..."

"All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out." Observe how He doeth all things for the sake of them that are saved; therefore He added this, that He might not seem to be trifling and speaking these things to no purpose. But what is it that He saith, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come unto Me," and "I will raise it up in the last day"? Wherefore speaketh He of the common resurrection, in which even the ungodly have a part, as though it were the peculiar gift of those who believe on Him? Because He speaketh not simply of resurrection, but of a particular kind of resurrection. For having first said, "I will not cast him out, I shall lose nothing of it," He then speaketh of the resurrection. Since in the resurrection some are cast out, ("Take him, and cast him into outer darkness,") and some are destroyed. ("Rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.") And the expression, "I give eternal life," declareth this; for they "that have done evil shall go forth to the resurrection of damnation, and they that have done good to the resurrection of life." This then, the resurrection to good things, is that which He here designed.

"All that the Father gives me," through eternal election and temporal calling; "shall come to me," through faith and love. Concerning this giving, in the Psalm: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance." The Lord requested these below in …

Whomsoever therefore the Father draweth to belief in Me, he, by faith, shall come to Me, that he may be joined to Me. And those, who in the steps of faith and good works, shall come to Me, I will in no wise cast out; i. e. in the secret habitation of a pure conscience, he shall dwell with Me, and at the last I will receive him to everlasting felicity.

All, He saith, absolutely, to show the fulness of the number who should believe. These are they which the Father gives the Son, when, by His secret inspiration, He makes them believe in the Son.

Then (v 37), he shows how this bread is acquired. First, he mentions the way to acquire it; secondly, the end attained by those who come to him (v 37b); thirdly, he enlarges on this (v 38). Concerning the first, we should note that the …

Showing that faith in Him is not a matter of chance, but a gift of God, given by the Father to those who are worthy and noble of heart, He says: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me," that is, those will …

All that the Father giveth me,....

All - The original word is in the neuter gender, but it is used, doubtless, for the masculine, or perhaps refers to his people considered as a mass or body, and means that every individual that the Father had given him should come to him. The Father giveth me - We here learn that those who come to Christ, and who will be saved, are given to him by God. 1. God promised him that he should see of the travail of his soul - that is, “the fruit of his wearisome toil” (Lowth), and should be satisfied, Isa 53:

Three of our Lord Jesus Christ's great sayings are strung together, like pearls, in this passage. Each of them ought to be precious to every true Christian. All taken together, they form a mine of truth, into which he that searches need never search in vain. We have, first, in these verses, a saying of Christ about Himself. We read that Jesus said—"I am the bread of life—he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst." Our Lord would have us know that He himself is the appointed food of man's soul.

THESE two sentences have been looked upon as representing two sides of Christian doctrine. They enable us to see it from two standpoints—the Godward and the manward. The first sentence contains what some call high doctrine. If by "high" they mean "glorious towards God," I fully agree with them, for it is a grand, God-honoring Truth which our Lord Jesus declares in these words—"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me."

EOD CHRIST will not die in vain. His Father gave Him a certain number to be the reward of His soul travail and He will have every one of them, as He said, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." Almighty Grace shall sweetly constrain them all to come. My father recently gave me some letters which I wrote to him when I began to preach.

A COUNTRY gentleman is expecting a number of persons to come and dine with him. He has as little side swing-gate at the entrance to the park through which people generally come, but, on the day when he expects company, he says to one of his men, "John, be sure that you set the big gates wide open, for we are expecting several people to come in." And that is the order which I have received from my Master—He is expecting company!

This "shall" expresses the glorious certainty of it, the Father being pledged to see to it that the gift be no empty mockery. (2) "AND HIM THAT COMETH TO ME I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT." As the former was the divine, this is just the human side of the same thing. True, the "coming" ones of the second clause are just the "given" ones of the first.

LET it be forevermore remembered that the words of Jesus Christ are full of Truth and Grace. And that in each of these two sentences, whether we perceive the fact or not, there is the surest Truth and the freest Grace. There will be some who from the peculiarity of their minds, will prize most the first sentence. They will say, as they read these words, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me"—why, here is high doctrine! Here is the security of the Covenant, the purpose of God effectually carried out!

Three of our Lord Jesus Christ's great sayings are strung together, like pearls, in this passage. Each of them ought to be precious to every true Christian. All taken together, they form a mine of truth, into which he that searches need never search in vain. We have, first, in these verses, a saying of Christ about Himself. We read that Jesus said—"I am the bread of life—he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst." Our Lord would have us know that He himself is the appointed food of man's soul. The soul of every man is naturally starving and famishing through sin. Christ is given by God the Father, to be the Satisfier, the Reliever, and the Physician of man's spiritual need. In Him and His mediatorial office—in Him and His atoning death—in Him and His priesthood—in Him and His grace, love, and power—in Him alone will empty souls find their needs supplied. In Him there is life. He is "the bread of life." With what divine and perfect wisdom this name is chosen! Bread is necessary food. We can manage tolerably well without many things on our table, but not without bread. So is it with Christ. We must have Christ, or die in our own sins. Bread is food that suits all . Some cannot eat meat, and some cannot eat vegetables. But all like bread. It is food both for the Queen and the pauper. So is it with Christ. He is just the Savior that meets the needs of every class. Bread is food that we need daily . Other kinds of food we take, perhaps, only occasionally. But we need bread every morning and evening in our lives. So is it with Christ. There is no day in our lives but we need His blood, His righteousness, His intercession, and His grace. Well may He be called, "The bread of life!" Do we know anything of spiritual hunger? Do we feel anything of craving and emptiness in conscience, heart, and affections?

LET it be forevermore remembered that the words of Jesus Christ are full of Truth and Grace. And that in each of these two sentences, whether we perceive the fact or not, there is the surest Truth and the freest Grace. There will be some who from the peculiarity of their minds, will prize most the first sentence. They will say, as they read these words, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me"—why, here is high doctrine! Here is the security of the Covenant, the purpose of God effectually carried out! Here is the Truth of God which we love and the Grace in which we glory." Other Brethren, overlooking the first sentence lest it should raise questions too hard to be answered, will rather grasp at the second sentence, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." "Why," they say, "here is universality of description! Here is a freeness of invitation! Here is a gracious overflow of liberality—this is good free Gospel, indeed!" And they will therefore fall to proclaiming the second sentence to the neglect of the first. But, Brothers and Sisters, let us not sin by setting one Scripture against another, or attempting to divide the living child of Revelation. It is one and it is alike glorious in all its parts.

THESE two sentences have been looked upon as representing two sides of Christian doctrine. They enable us to see it from two standpoints—the Godward and the manward. The first sentence contains what some call high doctrine. If by "high" they mean "glorious towards God," I fully agree with them, for it is a grand, God-honoring Truth which our Lord Jesus declares in these words—"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." Some have styled this side of the Truth of God Calvinistic, but while it is true that Calvin taught it, so, also, did Augustine, Paul and our Lord, Himself, whose Words are these. However, I will not quarrel with those who see in this sentence a statement of the great Truth of God of predestinating Grace. The second sentence sets forth blessed, encouraging, evangelical doctrine and is, in effect, a promise and an invitation—"Him that comes to Me I will by no means cast out." This is a statement without limitation of any kind. It has been thought to leave the free Grace of God open to the free will of man, so that whoever pleases my come and may be sure that he will not be refused. We have no permission to pare down either sentence, nor is there the slightest need to do so. The first sentence appears to me to say that God has chosen a people and has given these people to Christ—and these people must and shall come to Christ—and shall be saved. The second Truth of God declares that every man who comes to Christ shall be saved, since he shall not be cast out—and that implies that he shall be received and accepted. These are two great Truths of God—let us carry them both with us and they will balance each other.

EOD CHRIST will not die in vain. His Father gave Him a certain number to be the reward of His soul travail and He will have every one of them, as He said, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." Almighty Grace shall sweetly constrain them all to come. My father recently gave me some letters which I wrote to him when I began to preach. They are almost boyish epistles, but, in reading through them, again, I noticed in one of them this expression, "How I long to see thousands of men saved, but my great comfort is that some will be saved, must be saved, shall be saved, for it is written, 'All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me.'" The question for each of you to ask is, "Do I belong in that number?" I am going to preach with the view of helping you to find out whether you belong to that, "all," whom the Father gave to Christ—the "all" who shall come to Him. We can use the second part of the verse to help us to understand the first. "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out," will explain our Savior's previous Words, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." I shall have no time for any further preface. I must at once get to my subject and try to put everything in a condensed form. Kindly give heed to the word, think about it, pray over it—and may God the Holy Spirit apply it to all your hearts! I. First, notice in the text THE NECESSITY OF CHARACTER—"Him that comes to Me." If you want to be saved, you must come to Christ. There is no other way of salvation under Heaven but coming to Christ. Go wherever else you will, you will be disappointed and lost—it is only by coming to Him that you can by any possibility have eternal life! What is it to come to Christ? Well, it implies leaving all other confidences. To come to anybody is to leave everybody else. To come to Christ is to leave everything else—to leave every other hope, every other trust.

A COUNTRY gentleman is expecting a number of persons to come and dine with him. He has as little side swing-gate at the entrance to the park through which people generally come, but, on the day when he expects company, he says to one of his men, "John, be sure that you set the big gates wide open, for we are expecting several people to come in." And that is the order which I have received from my Master—He is expecting company! The evangelistic services in the South of London will, I trust, bring large numbers of people to feast with my Lord at His banqueting table and I believe it is His will that I should set the big gates wide open so that some sinners who might be passing by, would take that act as an invitation to them to come in! I feel sure that they will come in, for God is going to bring them in! He is about to stretch forth His almighty arm and to compel them to come in, that His House may be filled! So my objective in this discourse is to proclaim the fullness and freeness of the Grace of God—in the hope that some may be led to come to Christ and so to obtain eternal life! But, first, our text sets before us a rather knotty point, yet it reveals to us an excellent way of untying the knot. This is the knotty point. It would seem from the text that the Father has given some souls to Christ and not only from this text, but also from a great many other passages of Scripture it is clear that God has a people whom He has chosen unto eternal life—and that Christ has redeemed a people from among men. It is no use trying to shut your eyes to this Truth of God, as some do, for it is there.

All that the Father giveth me - The neuter gender, παν, is probably used here for the masculine, πας. Shall come to me - All that are drawn by the Father, Joh 6:44, i.e. all those who are influenced by his Spirit, and yield to those influences: for as many as are Led (not driven or dragged) by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God, Rom 8:14. God sent his prophets to proclaim his salvation to this people; and he accompanied their preaching with the influence of his Spirit. Those who yielded were saved: those who did not yield to these drawings were lost. This Spirit still continued to work and to allure; but the people being uncircumcised both in heart and ears, they always resisted the Holy Ghost; as their fathers did, so did they; Act 7:51. And though Christ would have gathered them together, as a hen would her chickens under her wings, yet they would not. See the note on Mat 23:37. Those who come at the call of God, he is represented here as giving to Christ, because it is through his blood alone that they can be saved. God, by his Spirit, convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment; those who acknowledge their iniquity, and their need of salvation, he gives to Christ, i.e. points out unto them the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Our Lord may here also refer to the calling of the Gentiles; for these, according to the ancient promise, Psa 2:8, were given to Christ: and they, on the preaching of the Gospel, gladly came unto him. See ample proofs of this in the Acts of the Apostles. I will in no wise cast out - The words are exceedingly emphatical - ου μη εκβαλω εξω, I will by no means thrust out of doors; excellently rendered by Matthew of Erberg in his Italian Bible - Io non cacciaro fuori, I will not chase him out of the house. […]